Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

First published 20th November 2025

I still don’t know why, but several of my potted citrus all decided to die together. It was very gradual and I wondered if the compost I had top-dressed them with was compromised in some way. Yet that didn’t explain the nearby and similarly-treated finger limes, lemonade tree or Eureka lemon surviving. And whatever affected the citruses didn’t affect the Sweet Violet (Viola odorata), Dichondra repens, Selaginella kraussiana, Rhipsalis cereuscula, and various weeds thriving in the same pots.

About all that the affected trees had in common was that they were all the oldest by many years. And boy was I cranky!

I cut off so much dead wood in hopes to encourage new growth elsewhere, which is why they look so butchered in the photos below.

Here for example is the kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix):


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

I was at the point of sourcing a replacement, so imagine my surprise — and absolute delight — to see this just days ago!


copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

That is not rootstock coming through. Those are the very distinctive leaves of the kaffir lime.

Similarly the Tahiti lime (Citrus × latifolia) didn’t look to be of this realm anymore:


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but this tree had much earlier sent up this new shoot from the base of the trunk:


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That shoot in the early days was very touch and go and I thought I would lose it too at the time. Hard to believe that seeing it now!

The Myer lemon (Citrus × meyeri) (closest) and Imperial Mandarin (Citrus reticulata) (furthest) look just as bad:


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but the Myer has sent out this lovely looking shoot lower down the trunk:


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Sadly I don’t have much hope for the mandarin:


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but I do have a young descendant from a cutting ready to take its place.